Bangalore: As many as 4,000-4,500 Master of Business Administration (MBA) seats under private management quota have remained unfilled this year forcing a number of colleges to wind up  the course.

Just 7,000 students appeared for the Karnataka Management Aptitude Test (KMAT) this year for about 12,000 seats under the private management quota.

The KMAT is conducted to fill seats under the management quota as well as unfilled government seats by a consortium of private colleges in the State.

A number of new candidates, however, kept approaching colleges even after the KMAT?was over owing to which a decision to hold another test on Sunday was taken. As many as 550 candidates appeared for the test.

“The second test was not scheduled in our calender and was held only to help students. Classes in a number of colleges under VTU?(Visvesvaraya Technology University) began in the last week of August.

“Similarly, in many other universities, the calender of events would be disrupted if we hold any test to fill vacant seats. As a result, we will not be holding anymore tests to fill up the seats.?We have no option but to let these seats go vacant,” said an office-bearer of the Karnataka Private Postgraduate Colleges’ Association (KPPGCA) that conducts the KMAT.

This person further said that owing to such a low turnout, a number of colleges that were offering the course have decided to wind it up this year.

“There are about 10-12 colleges that I know that have discontinued the course this year. Due to the growing demand in previous years, a number of colleges had started the MBA course without any proper planning and infrastructure. It is these colleges that have been hit the most,” the official added.

The situation is worse in government colleges, as even half of the seats have not been filled. While the Postgraduate Common Entrance Test (PGCET) conducted in June for admission to government quota seats saw around 12,000 registrations, a mere 5,878 seats out of the total of 13,753 seats were taken.